Oscar Pistorius's defence team in his murder trial plans to rest its case on Tuesday, meaning that the athlete could be just weeks away from learning his fate.

"I can say prima facie we plan to close the case," the defence counsel, Barry Roux, told the judge, Thokozile Masipa, on Monday. "I just need to get proper instructions. Can we stand till tomorrow morning, my lady, just to confer with everyone around me and make sure it is the right move?"

Since opening on 3 March in a blaze of media attention , the trial, originally set down for three weeks, has run for 38 working days over four months punctuated by several long adjournments and postponements.

If the prosecution does not call further witnesses on Tuesday, all the evidence will have been heard. Masipa will agree with both sides a date by which they must submit their closing arguments in writing and return to court to deliver them, likely to be next month. She will then retire to consider her verdict.

The trial will then adjourn again before returning for mitigation arguments and sentence. Should the judgment go against him, Pistorius has the right to appeal. He is likely to remain on bail throughout the process.

On Monday the prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, forced the final defence witness, sports doctor Wayne Derman, to contradict Pistorius's own testimony. The athlete has previously told the court that he was frightened by a noise in the toilet and fired accidentally, claiming: "I never intended to shoot anyone."

Nel challenged Derman: "With intention to kill, he shot the person behind the door. That's what he wanted to do, and that's what he did. Your evidence in no way affects his intention on that night."

Derman conceded: "From what I understand, it was his intention to shoot."

South Africa's national prosecuting authority insisted that the prosecution had not seen the video. But Nel challenged Derman over his claim that the athlete had limited mobility on his stumps. "Can I just ask you then was it ever demonstrated to you that Mr Pistorius was able to walk backwards on his stumps?" Nel asked.

Derman replied: "It was never demonstrated to me."

Nel: "Do you think it's possible?"

Derman: "I've never seen him walk backwards but I don't see why it should not be possible."

Meanwhile Hello! magazine published an interview with Steenkamp's mother, June, who said she had forgiven Pistorius. "I don't hate Oscar," she told the magazine. "I've forgiven him. I have to – that's my religion. But I am determined to face him and reclaim my daughter. It's important for him to know that I'm there, that Reeva's mother who gave birth to her and loved her, is there for her."